As used herein, the terms “finish”, “finishing” and “finished” refer to the process of installing, and a room that has, a new wall surface. One example of a common method of finishing a room, such as a residential basement room having a cinder block wall, involves the attachment of wood studs roughly every 16 to 24 inches to the cinder block wall and the attachment of a wall surface such as drywall or paneling to the wood studs by attachment means such as nails or screws. Generally, insulation such as glass fiber insulation batts are placed between the wall and the wall surface before attachment of the wall surface to the wood studs, or a granular or loose-fill fibrous insulation is poured or blown in to the space between the wall and the wall surface after the wall surface is attached to the wood studs.
However, the above method, which is relatively time consuming to perform, is relatively costly for a contractor and thus a homeowner. Further, when a homeowner finishes a room such as a basement, i.e., in a do-it-yourself project, the homeowner often has limited experience performing the above method, and generally desires to spend as little as possible in materials to complete the project. The above method thus has the disadvantage that it requires a certain level of sophistication and ability with respect to building techniques.
Further, the attachment means common in such methods produce a finished wall structure that is relatively non-modular, i.e., in which it is very difficult to remove and then replace a wall panel in an aesthetically acceptable manner. Such modularity can be desirable to check for moisture behind the panel (especially in a new home), or to replace the panel with another panel such as a decorative panel or a mirror.
The above method has the additional disadvantage in that it results in a relatively hard, dense material such as drywall exposed to the room. Such material often is relatively reflective of acoustic energy at a wide midrange of frequencies, and the structure can thus have less desirable acoustics.
The Owens Corning Basement Finishing System™ addresses some of the disadvantages of the above method. However, the facer of the Owens Corning Basement Finishing System™, which faces an interior of the room being finished, is fabric (i.e., vinyl fabric). Many consumers find the fabric facer aesthetically unpleasing and consumers are unable to change the look of the fabric facer once installed. Accordingly, what is needed is a basement finishing system that provides consumers with greater options and flexibility in terms of room aesthetics as well as provides additional advantages over current basement finishing systems.